A body rolled in the surf.
Oh God, not again. Was he real?
Indecision held her in place. Should she pretend she didn’t see him? Was she really this insane? She squeezed her eyes shut and curled her hands into fists because she didn’t want to be the crazy lady. She was sick of being the weirdo. When she opened her eyes again, the pewter sky had darkened, reflecting ominous hues in the green-tinged North Sea, and the body was still there. Her hands shook. Breath jammed in her lungs. She expelled it and took one tentative step forward. Then she began to run.
Horror ripped away decades and she couldn’t move fast enough. She climbed rocky steeples, staggered across granite ledges and plunged into water so cold her skin blistered. She skidded, hissed out a cry and grabbed at his sweater.
But Christ, he was real! She hadn’t expected him to be.
She swallowed her relief because now there was a genuine emergency. He weighed more than lead, heavy clothes dragging him into the swirling depths. A wave crashed over the top of the ledge, cascading into the pool and over Sorcha’s head as she tore at the man, trying to lift his face for air. Panic gave her strength.
He may not be dead. He may not be dead yet.
Desperate, she grabbed the material, felt the stretch and give of waterlogged wool, and heaved. Turning him over, she took an instant to absorb the fact that it wasn’t him.
Thank God, it wasn’t him.
This man was young with dirty blond hair plastered to his skull. He looked more like a student or a tourist than a fisherman, and he wasn’t breathing. Currents tried to steal him as waves pounded the rock pool, but she refused to let go.
Using every muscle in her body, she worked at pulling his dead weight clear of the water. If she could get him there, if she could get him breathing, there was a five-minute window where she could run for help before the storm-driven tide stole him again.
Imagine how crazy she’d sound if she claimed to have found another body on the beach, only this one disappeared? She’d been gone for many years, but in this part of Scotland people didn’t forget—and they didn’t forgive.
Her feet slipped. “No!” She lost her balance on the treacherous rock and his weight pushed her under. She banged her head on granite and choked as seawater entered her airway.
Spluttering, she rose to her feet, hooked her hands beneath his arms and dragged him backward out of the weed-infested pool before she collapsed.
Waves lashed around both sides of the rocks. There wasn’t much time to resuscitate him before the tide caught up with them, but she had to try. Rough stone bit into her knees as she checked for a pulse. She searched his thick wrist, then the wall of his neck for the telltale beat of life. Nothing moved. No flutter of blood, no rise or fall of his chest. His lips were blue. Skin, pale and waxy. Glassy eyes stared up at her, reminding her of another face…
“He’s dead.” The voice came out of nowhere, loud and startling, despite the howling gale.
Sorcha screamed. She didn’t mean to, couldn’t help the screech that escaped her lips.
“Take it easy.” A stranger stood nearby, holding up his hands, fingers spread wide in a nonthreatening gesture. Black eyes stared at her from a harsh face, spray or perspiration beading his forehead. His lips were compressed into a thin red line and a muscle ticked in his jaw.
There was no compassion in his gaze, no relief to be found in his presence. A shudder ran through her as the wind cut through her wet clothes to penetrate her skin, only it wasn’t the temperature that made her shake. The guy was about as friendly as razor wire.
“Do you know him?” The man, an American by his accent, shouted above the roar of wind and water.
Sorcha looked down at the man at her feet—the undoubtedly dead man at her feet.
Lord, I should recognize a corpse.
She shook her head. She’d never seen the young man before.
“Think you can make it up the shore?” he asked.
“Of course. What about him?” Despite the lungful of water she’d inhaled, her voice held. She wasn’t the one who needed to be rescued. In case he hadn’t noticed, she was the one doing the rescuing.
Foam frothed. The tempest was about to hit full force. The furious gray clouds started to spit. He tore his gaze from the surging water back to her. “I’ll carry him.”
“He’s heavy.” Sorcha hesitated to touch the man now that she knew he was dead, but she felt bound to him. Just like so many years ago. “I can help.” She moved forward to pick up the dead man’s arm, preparing to haul him up.
Ignoring her, the newcomer maneuvered himself around the rocks to stand on the other side of the body and hefted the dead man across his shoulders.
Sorcha opened her mouth to argue, but the Yank was already striding away and she had no choice except to follow. Why did men take over like that?
“Bloody hell.”
The American couldn’t hear, but she wasn’t so sure about the dead.
The stranger negotiated the jutting slabs of bedrock with ease, the corpse strung across his shoulders as though he carried dead bodies every day. Wrapping her arms tight across her chest, she trailed him. A boulder wobbled beneath her trainers and she slipped, letting out a yelp of surprise. The American turned, the dead guy streaming water down his crimson jacket like fresh-flowing blood.
Unsettled, she forced the image away.
“Need some help?” he asked.
Away from the violent surf he’d relaxed a little, his expression unlocked by the barest degree. Although the derision in his eyes suggested he found her discomfort amusing.
Just what I need. A sadist.
And suddenly there was her father again, strolling up the beach ahead of them, disappearing through the garden gate. A voice whispered close by, the words whisked away by the fury of the storm. She held herself rigid, fighting the urge to close her eyes and weep.
Her father was dead.
The American didn’t notice anything was wrong. He just turned around and carried on walking. Her fingers shook as she dragged her hand through her sticky hair. She lurched onward, barely able to feel her toes. She wasn’t sure what affected her more—the icy water, the cruel storm or the ghosts from her past.
Her eyes latched onto the stranger’s red jacket, a lifeline, and her feet carried her on autopilot. He headed to the old Johnstone cottage, the one closest to the beach.
Figured.
She didn’t want to remember the last time she’d been in that house. Fifteen years was a long time, but not long enough to eradicate those memories.
Despite the rain that made distinct splashes on the rocks, her pace slowed. Part of her wanted to go home, to continue walking up the beach a few houses and forget she’d ever found another body in the rock pool. Instead she followed the American past where the rocks turned into coarse sand and salt-tolerant wildflowers encroached on the sea’s territory. They went up three stone steps and through a newly painted blue door set in the old stone wall. And each step brought with it a sharp sense of déjà vu.
The stranger laid the dead man on the thin strip of grass that constituted a lawn, and the corpse seemed to glow in the twilight. Who was he? How had he ended up on this beach?
She resisted the urge to cross herself.
The American disappeared along the covered passageway toward the cottage’s door, but the vulnerability of the body pulled at her. An old stone potting shed stood in the garden. She rattled the doorknob in search of a tarp or a towel to cover the dead man, but it was locked. Old Mrs. Johnstone used to hide the key beneath the dusty flowerpot which still sat at the corner of the shed. Numbly Sorcha scrabbled her fingers beneath it, found only dried dirt and cobwebs. Some things did change if you stayed away long enough. She rested against the wall, and the rain beat down on her head.
The American approached, carrying a coarse pink blanket and a cell phone. The sharp angles of his face contrasted with the weathered stone of the cottage behind him.
&nbs
p; “Who are you?” she asked softly.
“Name’s Ben Foley.”
Nothing else. No pleasantries. No “Isn’t it terrible we found a dead man on the beach?” Droplets of moisture glistened in his hair. Knowledge and intelligence sparked in the pitch of his eyes.
She shrank away, alarmed by what he might see. “I need to go home and change—”
“No. I called the cops.”
She edged back, but he followed. He held up his cell phone and tilted his head. “Said they’d be right over.”
Bloody hell. She needed to get away. “Look, I’m freezing. I need to change out of these wet things.”
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all. “The police wanna talk to you.” His tone was firm, brooking no argument. He flashed a smile, a crease bisecting one clean-shaven cheek. He was deeply, gloriously tanned, making her feel washed-out and insipid by comparison. “The fire’s lit.” He slipped the phone back into his pocket. “And I can lend you some dry stuff.”
Tension gripped her as he stepped closer and held the blanket wide as if to wrap her in it.
She twisted away. “Put it over him.” She pointed a finger at the body.
“Believe me, he doesn’t need it.” He stood in front of her, a solid wall of determination.
“Yes, he does.” She tried to control the tremor in her voice and glanced at the neighbors’ windows, which shone with light. At least one curious onlooker was silhouetted against pale curtains. How could she express her distress at the thought of people seeing the dead man at his most vulnerable? “He needs to be covered up.”
They glared at each other until he finally backed away. “Fine, lady. Whatever.”
God, he was cranky.
The wind sliced through her. She rubbed her arms and stamped her feet to try to get warm, silently cursing as her soggy trainers squished. She did not have time for hypothermia.
“Are you sure you don’t recognize him?” he asked.
“I’ve never seen him before.” And hoped to hell she never saw him again. One ghost was enough.
Ben Foley covered the body with the blanket. He knelt to one side and swept the sleeve of the sweater up above the elbow of the dead man’s arm and quickly pulled it back down, adjusting the cuff. Sorcha’s teeth chattered as he tucked the blanket securely beneath the head and torso to foil the wind.
His movements were respectful. It helped, though she didn’t know why.
The storm ripped at his jacket as he turned back toward her, this tall startling foreigner. She stood her ground even though what she really wanted to do was run.
“Let’s get you inside.” Gripping her arm, he escorted her toward the cottage and pushed her through the small wooden doorway into a wall of heat. Even so she felt chilled. She hadn’t been inside this cottage since she was a little girl. She hadn’t been here since that awful day…
It hadn’t changed much, although her memories of the cottage itself were dim. A fire blazed on the hearth and she moved toward the fierce, bright flames, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind on the floor.
The American hesitated before closing the door. He seemed agitated all of a sudden. More agitated than when he’d carried a dead body off the beach.
What’s with that?
He moved to the dining table and began clearing away his laptop and papers.
Hah. Like she cared. Unlike the rest of this town, she wasn’t always poking her nose into other people’s business.
A chair faced the picture window overlooking the beach. A fat white telescope was mounted in front of it and pointed toward the sea. Had Ben Foley been watching the storm? Had he seen her race for home, trying to beat the rain? Had he watched as her nightly run ended in gruesome discovery?
She should be grateful. Without him, the boy’s body would have been lost.
She held her hands outstretched to the fire and dropped to her knees to get closer to the heat, regretting the movement as soon as her wet clothes slapped her skin. Yuck. She yanked the clingy cotton sweatshirt over her head, and dropped it in a soggy heap on the hearth. A prickly sensation spread along her nerves as she felt Ben’s eyes bore into her. She toed off her runners and peeled wet jogging pants down her legs. Stripping to her underwear didn’t bother her. In fact, her body was one of the few things in her life she wasn’t ashamed of.
Turning to warm her back, her gaze locked with Ben Foley’s. Unease filtered through the shock. Her breath stopped.
Maybe this wasn’t the brightest idea she’d ever had.
The flames danced higher and Sorcha wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake. She was down to her underwear, alone with a strange man, a dead body in the garden, and only his word that the police were on their way.
***
Outside the storm intensified. Gulls screamed and the wind rattled the windowpanes. Ben barely noticed. Anger worked through his veins as blood headed south. Jacob would have found the situation amusing. But Jacob was dead.
Ben hadn’t expected her to strip in front of him and he didn’t like surprises. Her sports bra and panties were more than some women wore on the beach, but they weren’t designed to be wet.
Was this part of her game?
Hiding his reaction, Ben took his time and examined every inch of exposed flesh, from her high-arched feet to her thick blond hair. His palms itched and heat stirred. No doubt about it, she was hot. One sexy lady. Not what he’d expected from a Ph.D. candidate, or his prime suspect—the phone call to Santayana’s mansion having been traced to Sorcha Logan’s cottage.
The flaws had to be hidden deep beneath the surface.
“Have you never seen a naked woman before?” Her accent was scathing. She dropped her pants next to her shirt and raised a brow, toying with him.
If she hoped to disconcert him, she was shit out of luck. He ate girls like her for breakfast.
He let a smile curl his lips, rocked back on his heels, wondering how far she’d go. Nipples pressed against the damp fabric of her bra, drawing his attention. “You’re not naked…yet.” He gave himself points when her eyes flashed and she crossed her arms over her breasts.
“Yeah, well today isn’t your lucky day, pal, and tomorrow doesn’t look good either.”
Her attitude amused him despite himself. He smothered a grin, but she spotted it.
“Brilliant. A comedian. Move over, Billy Connolly.” Her accent grew stronger, but an edge of caution crept into her tight lips and watchful eyes. “Do you have a towel and some clothes I can borrow? Please? Before I freeze to death?”
Her mouth settled into a pout. Probably pissed he wasn’t so easily manipulated by a wet-dream body and dumb-blonde hair.
Jerking himself out of his distraction, he strode to the bedroom through a small door at the end of the room. He ducked his head going through the low opening. Place was built for midgets. His notes and photographs were out of sight, nevertheless he couldn’t risk her snooping around. He grabbed a towel and some sweats and headed back to the living room.
She hadn’t moved from beside the fireplace. She rose awkwardly to her feet and took a big quivering breath. Ben wrestled his gaze above her chest. She might be down to her skivvies, but he was the one risking exposure.
He held out the clothes, yet, despite her complaints about being cold, she hesitated before taking them from him. When she finally reached for them, her fingers brushed his sweater and he felt a spark. Her irises flared in reaction.
Well, what do you know? A little animal attraction.
How could he use it?
He drew his hands along the soft skin of her inner arms as he stepped back, but she broke the connection and looked away. She smelled like brine, her hair tangling around her face in wet strands. Pretty though. Not that it mattered. Beauty was skin deep and evil didn’t always wear horns.
Lights strobed outside the window, blue spots gyroscoping around the room. The cops.
“Oh, bugger,” she muttered.
“You got somethin
g against cops?”
She scrubbed her hair vigorously with the towel. “Not exactly.” She tried to appear nonchalant though she was unable to lie worth a damn.
Interesting. Women like her were usually naturals.
There was a rap on the door and he opened it. A police officer in a crisp black uniform stared first at him and then at the half-naked woman who was trembling in front of the fire.
Damn. Ben hadn’t even considered that possibility. An assault charge would get him off the case before it even began.
“Sorcha?” the police officer questioned.
“Uncle Davy.”
“Everything all right, lass?” The skin around the man’s eyes pinched with suspicion. He fixed Ben with a look.
“I’m fine.” She sounded upbeat, totally at odds with how she’d looked just seconds before. Maybe she was a better liar than Ben had given her credit for.
Sergeant David Logan of Fife Constabulary was shorter than he looked in photographs. “Come on in. You two are related?” Ben faked surprise. He faked a lot of stuff. He’d probably be able to drum up a few tears when his grandfather passed away. Then again, maybe not.
“We are.” Nodding, Davy Logan took one step across the threshold out of the driving rain. Sorcha remained silent. Neither oozed warmth nor hospitality. “And who are you?” He stuck out his hand. The accent was broad Scots, but he spoke slowly enough for Ben to unravel the words, even if his grip was crushing.
“Ben Foley.” He put a little extra teeth into his smile.
Sorcha pulled on the sweatpants he’d given her.
About damn time.
“You found a body?” Davy Logan addressed him, but his eyes darted to his niece.
“Yes—”
“Yeah.” They spoke simultaneously. Ben jammed his fists in his pockets and waited to see what the cop would do next.
“Do you know who it is?”
Ben shrugged. “I don’t live around here.”
“Sorcha?” the cop asked.
She shook her head.
“Where is it?” Sergeant Logan removed his cap, raindrops dripping off and splashing onto the tile.
“In the yard.” Ben nodded in the direction of the sea. The dead boy might have been in the water for minutes or hours for all Ben knew. The thought made his gut churn. The corpse didn’t bother him—it was the water that freaked him out.
Storm Warning Page 2